Atlanta Hawks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Irving, Heat, Scott, Perkins

March 16th, 2015 at 4:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

Reports last season that made claims of a rift between Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters and alleged that Irving wanted to leave the Cavaliers put a strain on the point guard, as he tells Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Irving silenced much of the chatter when he agreed to a five-year extension with Cleveland on the first day he could this past July.

“It really got to me,” Irving said of the rumors. “I’m not a big Twitter person and I don’t tweet a lot of my emotions, but last year I was clarifying because there were so many sources. I’m dealing with people coming at my character. Saying I’m detrimental to my teammates and I’m like, ‘Man, that’s not even close to who I am at all.’ It started to get to me because once people start to question the things that you’re doing, and you know you’re not doing them, then it starts to get to you.”

There’s more on the Cavs amid the latest from around the Eastern Conference:

Dwyane Wade believes Goran Dragic is a fit for the Heat, but even if he re-signs and Chris Bosh and Josh McRoberts return healthy for next season, Wade thinks the team would still need to add more to return to contention, as he told Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post.
Mike Scott is expected to miss four to six weeks with his broken left big toe, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Hawks signed Austin Daye on Saturday to a 10-day contract to help offset the loss. The regular season ends four weeks from this coming Wednesday.
Kendrick Perkins is enthusiastic about the way he’s fit in with the Cavs and the warm reception his new teammates have given him, as he tells Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links). Perkins, who nonetheless added that he misses his former Thunder teammates, will once more hit free agency in the summer.
Public funding for pro sports facilities is coming under fire from President Obama, who’s proposed eliminating the ability for states and cities to use bonds that are exempt from federal taxes to raise money for construction, reports Elaine S. Povich of Stateline (USA Today link). It’s unclear whether that would affect the Bucks‘ plan, which is based on a “jock tax” that draws from players.

Hawks Sign Austin Daye To 10-Day Contract

March 15th, 2015 at 12:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

SUNDAY, 12:07pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s Twitter feed.

SATURDAY, 12:31pm: Austin Daye will sign a 10-day contract with the Hawks, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports. The Hawks needed depth at the forward position after Mike Scott broke the big toe on his left foot this week. Daye was playing for the team’s D-League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, where he averaged 16.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in 10 games.

Daye was waived in January by the Spurs after appearing in 26 games this season, averaging 4.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in those contests. Daye, a first-round pick by the Pistons in 2009, has also played for the Grizzlies and Raptors over the past three seasons. Daye can play either forward spot and gives the Hawks another 3-point threat. He’s a 35.2% shooter from long range over his career.

Scott, who was averaging 7.5 points and 2.7 rebounds, is out indefinitely, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The club decided not to re-sign guard Jarell Eddie to a second 10-day contract on Saturday because of Scott’s injury.

Eastern Notes: Celtics, Van Gundy, Eddie

March 14th, 2015 at 11:25am CST by Dana Gauruder

Celtics coach Brad Stevens said there is no disconnect between him and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge as the team fights for a playoff berth, Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald writes. Stevens has not been asked by Ainge to use younger players at the expense of winning, according to Bulpett, who points out that rookie James Young has lost his spot in the rotation. Ainge made several trades this season with an eye to the future, including deals that shipped out veterans Rajon Rondo and Tayshaun Prince. “To me, there doesn’t need to be any separation. This is the focus we have,” Stevens said to the team’s beat reporters. “Obviously [Ainge] has got to look at everything from a roster standpoint and the development standpoint and everything else, but I think our progress as a team and the way we’re progressing, all that stuff goes hand in hand.”

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy is unhappy about his team playing 22 back-to-backs this season, tying his team with the Hornets for the most in the league, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com notes. Van Gundy believes the problem is due to the league’s contract with TNT which prevents teams from scheduling games on most Thursday nights, Langlois adds. “If you looked at the schedule and said, they’ve got 45 home games and they’ve only got 37, everybody would go crazy,” Van Gundy said to Langlois. “But on the back to backs, we don’t say anything. I think that is something to be addressed.”
Jarell Eddie will not receive a second 10-day contract from the Hawks, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reveals. Eddie, whose first 10-day contract expires on Saturday, did not appear in any games after he was signed away from the D-League’s Austin Spurs. He will likely return to Austin, Vivlamore continues.

Eastern Notes: Ferry, Brand, Kirilenko, Heat, C’s

March 13th, 2015 at 1:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

Hawks executive and prospective owner Dominique Wilkins hasn’t exactly been enamored with Danny Ferry after he tried to block the building of a statue in honor of the Hawks legend, as Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes in a subscription-only piece. Schultz examines the uncertain future of the GM who’s been on indefinite leave of absence since September and the opposition he faces from Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr., who reportedly sought Ferry’s ouster and, according to Schultz, fears the GM’s return. There’s more on the Hawks amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:

Elton Brand says he’ll wait until season’s end to decide whether he’ll retire, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Brand also considered retirement after last season before he re-signed with the Hawks on a one-year, $2MM deal.
It appears that Andrei Kirilenko‘s departure from the Sixers constituted a buyout deal, as his salary was reduced from $3,326,235 to $2,328,365, according to Eric Pincus, who reports via Twitter and shows more detail on his Sixers salary page at Basketball Insiders. Presumably, that $997,870 difference is on top of the money Kirilenko lost during his unpaid suspension.
Having Hassan Whiteside blossom as he has is “almost like getting a lottery pick” to make up for the first-rounders the team dealt away when it signed-and-traded for LeBron James and Chris Bosh in 2010, Heat president Pat Riley tells Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick (Twitter link). Riley added that he feels as though Michael Beasley and perhaps Tyler Johnson also have the ability to offset the loss of those picks.
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is much more pleased with his club now than he was two months ago, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com observes.

Hawks, Pero Antic Interested In New Deal

March 12th, 2015 at 9:57am CST by Chuck Myron

Just about every scenario Hawks management is planning for next season involves re-signing Pero Antic, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Antic has made it clear he wants to remain with the team, as he told Vivlamore. The Hawks can match offers for the 32-year-old big man if they tender a qualifying offer of nearly $1.563MM when his contract expires this summer.

“He’s a good part of our core, our substance, our locker room,” said Mike Budenholzer, Atlanta’s coach and acting GM, according to Vivlamore. “Then, the way he plays on the court, I think he’s done a ton to be somebody you want to be a part of your team going forward. The summer and free agency is a ways off but we love him.”

Vivlamore wrote last month that the Hawks had given indications that they’d like to try to re-sign him in the offseason, but it seems like the team’s interest in a continued relationship, and Antic’s shared desire for that, are becoming more clear. Antic, a native of Macedonia who played for many years overseas before finally making his NBA debut at age 31 last season, told Vivlamore that his experience with the Hawks has been the best of his career.

“From your mouth to God’s ears, we say,” Antic said in response to a question about whether he’d like to re-sign. “I love it. I love the guys. I love everything. I couldn’t be happier to come. The coaching staff, to be so similar to Europe, to be so understanding of the players, rarely you can find that.”

Hawks GM Danny Ferry, now on indefinite leave of absence, signed Antic in 2013 to a two-year, $2.45MM contract with non-guaranteed salary for the second season that would become fully guaranteed if he remained on the deal through mid-July 2014. The Hawks indeed kept him after a season in which he started 26 regular season games and all seven of the team’s playoff games amid a rash of injuries to the team’s frontcourt. His numbers are down this year, and he’s started only twice with Al Horford back healthy. Antic’s shot is off and he’s dealt with an ankle injury this year, but Budenholzer is enamored with the Misko Raznatovic client‘s defense, leadership and on-court intelligence, Vivlamore writes.

Atlanta already has more than $39MM in guaranteed salary for next season. They’ll have Antic’s Early Bird Rights, meaning they can exceed the cap to sign him to a starting salary of 104.5% of the average salary for this season. That would likely come close to $6MM, so Atlanta should have no trouble within those bounds, though that’s just my speculation.

2015/16 Salary Commitments: Hawks

March 11th, 2015 at 7:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With the NBA trade deadline now passed, teams are focusing on locking down playoff spots or vying for a better chance in the draft lottery. Outside of the players who are added on 10-day deals, or those lucky enough to turn those auditions into long-term contracts, teams’ rosters are relatively set for the remainder of the season.

We at Hoops Rumors are in the process of taking a look ahead at each franchise’s salary cap situation heading into the summer, and the free agent frenzy that occurs every offseason. While the exact amount of the 2015/16 salary cap won’t be announced until July, the cap is projected to come in somewhere around $68MM, with the luxury tax threshold projected at approximately $81MM. This year’s $63.065MM cap represented an increase of 7.7% over 2013/14, which was well above the league’s projected annual increase of 4.5%.

We’ll begin by taking a look at the Hawks’ cap outlook for 2015/16…

Here are the players with guaranteed contracts:

Al Horford — $12MM
Kent Bazemore — $2MM
Kyle Korver — $5,746,479
Shelvin Mack — $2,433,333
Dennis Schröder — $1,763,400
Mike Scott — $3,333,333
Thabo Sefolosha — $4MM
Jeff Teague — $8MM

Here are the players with non-guaranteed contracts:

Mike Muscala — $947,276

Players with options:

N/A

The Hawks’ Cap Summary for 2015/16:

Guaranteed Salary: $39,276,545
Options/Non-Guaranteed Salary: $947,276
Total: $40,223,821

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

Atlantic Notes: Nets Sale, Wiggins, Embiid

March 11th, 2015 at 10:58am CST by Chuck Myron

Amar’e Stoudemire‘s $2.5MM buyout from the Knicks only represented a net loss of $2,014,330 for him, since it was offset by his prorated minimum salary deal with the Mavs, but it was a savings of $6.25MM for the Knicks, as Marc Berman of the New York Post points out. The $2.5MM that Stoudemire gave up, an amount that Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders first reported, as we noted last month, would have entailed an extra $3.75MM in luxury taxes had the big man remained under contract. Still, Stoudemire collected a total of more than $97.2MM in salary from the Knicks over the course of his five-year contract, and New York is in line to pay at least some tax for a third straight year, meaning the team will incur repeat-offender penalties if it goes over the tax next season. Here’s more from the Atlantic:

Sources told Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders that they suspected the sale of the Nets was to have been based off a $1 billion price for the Hawks, but those same sources believe the Atlanta franchise will go for around $900MM instead, as Kyler relays (Twitter links). Multiple sports bankers had believed the Nets would sell for as much as $2 billion, as they told Josh Kosman and Claire Atkinson of the New York Post earlier this month, but that price point never materialized, Kyler hears (Twitter link). Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov appears to be backing away from the idea of a sale.
There are whispers that Andrew Wiggins would love to play for the Raptors, but he’s under contract through 2018 and would have to take discount salaries if he wants to play in his native Canada anytime this decade, writes Eric Koreen of the National Post. In any case, the talent pool in Canada has grown enough such that GM Masai Ujiri need not dig deep to fulfill his promise of bringing a domestic talent onto the Raptors, making the GM’s pledge “harmless,” Koreen believes. Still, a majority of Hoops Rumors readers believe that Ujiri shouldn’t concern himself with a player’s nationality.
The “minor setback” that Joel Embiid has suffered as he continues to recover from a broken right foot bears watching, but it’s not worth an overreaction, Sixers coach Brett Brown told reporters, including Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The franchise still believes that Embiid is capable of becoming its cornerstone if he can get healthy, Pompey writes.

Eastern Notes: Whiteside, Wizards, Teague

March 10th, 2015 at 7:57pm CST by Eddie Scarito

There is growing concern within the Heat organization about center Hassan Whiteside‘s maturity and self-control, Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post writes. Whiteside was ejected from Monday night’s game, which was the second time in the last five games the big man was tossed from a contest, and it resulted in a one game suspension. When asked if he was disappointed in Whiteside, Dwyane Wade said, “Very. We all are. As a Heat fan you are. In this locker room we are. Everybody. He’s gonna have to learn and he’s gonna learn the hard way. He’s doing it his own way. Hopefully he changes his mentality pretty quick. Players gotta understand how important they are to an organization and continue to understand that moment when you finally got that call-up, how you felt. You would’ve done anything to get that, just to be here. Sometimes you start feeling yourself a little too much. A lot of us are guilty of that. You’ve gotta humble yourself. Hopefully Hassan gets it.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

With Garrett Temple expected to miss at least a week due to a hamstring injury, the Wizards are likely to fill their final roster spot, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post tweets. The team is currently weighing its options on available players, but no signing appears imminent, Castillo adds.
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer was the driving force behind Atlanta matching the four-year, $32MM offer sheet that the Bucks had signed Jeff Teague to back in 2013, Lee Jenkins of SI.com writes. Teague is certainly rewarding his coach’s faith this season, averaging 16.8 points and 7.2 assists in 31.2 minutes per contest.
The trade for Reggie Jackson cost the Pistons two starting players, but the long-term benefits of the trade should outweigh the short-term setback, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. “It’s not like we didn’t think about [the present] this year,” Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said. “We knew as far as for this year that it was a gamble. Just because of continuity, we would’ve been better off not making moves. We knew that. We thought we could make those moves and still stay right in the playoff race and we were willing to take that gamble because of what we thought it did for the future.“

Atlantic Notes: Williams, Knicks, Green

March 10th, 2015 at 5:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Raptors guard Louis Williams‘ strong play in the final year of his deal has put him in the running for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award. When discussing his past, present, and future with Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com, Williams relayed that his free agent preference this summer is to remain in Toronto. “Absolutely. I already tried to get them to go do it — get an extension,” Williams said. “But at this point in my career, I want to play somewhere where the fans appreciate you, your team is serious about winning and create something special. We have an identity, and I love it. It’s perfect for my personality. I’ve always been the underdog, I’ve always been overlooked. I’ve always been the guy where it was like we’ll see what he does and then we’ll check on Lou. That’s been my career.”

It should be noted that Williams would have been unable to ink an extension with the Raptors since he is currently on a three-year deal. The collective bargaining agreement stipulates that a player can only ink a contract extension if he is signed to a deal of four years or greater in length.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

When asked by Mazzeo about the trade that sent him from the Hawks to the Raptors, Williams said, “I knew it was coming. I just knew my experience in Atlanta was coming to an end. It was either gonna be I was leaving after my contract was up or they were gonna trade me, and that’s just how things were going. We had a coaching change and I had missed the first [eight] games of that season, and the Hawks head coach Bud [Mike Budenholzer], he just was very honest and upfront with me and just said, ‘I’ve gotten more comfortable with this other guy and he’s probably gonna play the minutes.’ I had to respect that because the coach has a job to do.“
The Knicks may have difficulty luring free agents to New York because of the restrictions that the triangle offense imposes on players’ athleticism, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes.
Jeff Green, who holds a $9.2MM player option for next season, is still very close with his former Celtics teammates, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com relays (Twitter link). Green is especially close with Avery Bradley, Blakely adds. It’s unknown if this camaraderie could lead Green back to Boston, or if the team would have any interest in re-signing the forward if he opts out of his current deal.

Southeast Notes: Magic, Dragic, Whiteside, Eddie

March 7th, 2015 at 8:13pm CST by Arthur Hill

George Karl also had an interest in the Magic‘s coaching position, which is currently held by interim coach James Borrego, prior to accepting his post with Sacramento, John Denton of NBA.com writes. “I knew in October that I wanted to get back into the gym. I’ve never been a political coach from the standpoint of politicking for a specific job or a championship team job,’’ Karl said. “What I miss is the gym, so whether it was in Sacramento or Orlando or wherever. Yes, of course [he wanted a job], but I didn’t want them to make a play that was going to wasteful of their time or my time. I don’t know many people in this [Orlando] organization, so I don’t have any qualms. I just wanted to get back into the gym one way or the other, and I think we have a really good talent and I think [the Magic] have really good young talent.’’

There’s more news from the Southeast Division:

When discussing his brother Zoran Dragic‘s recent assignment to the D-League, Goran Dragic lauded how the Heat organization utilizes its affiliate, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel writes. “We have a couple of examples that they were playing there and the most important thing is they were ready,” Dragic said. Hassan Whiteside, Shabazz Napier, Tyler Johnson and Henry Walker have all made the trek to Sioux Falls this season for Miami.
Whiteside has put up some eye-popping numbers in his short time with the Heat, but he was little more than a spectator late in Friday’s loss to the Wizards, according to Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post. Whiteside started the third quarter, but left the game for good at the 7:35 mark. Whiteside has a two-year contract with Miami and won’t hit free agency until 2016.
Jarell Eddie probably startled a few hotel guests after he agreed to a 10-day contract with the Hawks this week. Eddie told Chris Vivlamore of The Journal-Constitution that he couldn’t contain himself when he got the news. “I get back and got the call and I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I really couldn’t believe it. I screamed in my hotel room for a little while and then I was in shock. It was beautiful. It’s a dream come true.”

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.